The evening sun drifts towards the horizon, casting a tall shadow to the east of Jing City. At the top floor of the building creating this elongated silhouette, a woman paces restlessly across the otherwise silent room. Two criss-crossing pins hold her hair in a bun behind her head, bobbing slightly as she steps across the grand room. Masterfully polished stones, shaped like lotus petals, hang from the head of the pins, swaying along with the rhythm of her steps.
In one corner of the grand chamber, a collection of furniture lies stacked, evidence of a night that reshaped the meticulously curated room. What was once a luxurious display of intricately crafted rosewood now stands empty, the grand chamber reduced to simplicity.
Instead of the luxurious rich reds of the rosewood furniture, six simple bamboo beds now line the room. Three of the beds, empty since sunrise, stretch along one side of the room. Pearly white sheets, marked with a crane and a tree, rest perfectly flat across all three beds, replacing the bloody canvases that came before. A series of white sheets hang from the support beams, forming a makeshift curtain that separates the vacant beds from the rest of the room.
On the opposite side, three more bamboo beds line the wall in a similar fashion, partially isolated from the rest of the room by an overlapping series of bed sheets. Two of the beds are empty, perfectly clean and pearly white, mirroring the pristine state of the three beds on the other side. In the last bed, a petite figure bound in bandages across her upper body rests. Blotches of crimson stain the bandages around her left shoulder and fists. Although her eyes are closed, an occasional blue glow can be seen piercing through her pale eyelids.
“Lady Lianyi.” A voice calls out from behind the grand double doors. “Zhou Mingcui requests entry.”
“Invite him in.” Lianyi replies, pausing her pacing at the foot of the bed.
A short moment later, two attendants push the doors open. One of the attendants keeps her head low while the other, a well-dressed man, lifts his eyes, darting around the room before lowering his gaze. Another man, wearing a white robe bearing the mark of the Alchemist Association, steps past the attendants and through the open doors. He lifts his cupped hands, bowing towards Lianyi upon entry before making his way towards her.
“Instructor Lianyi, we’ve finished preparing everything you requested.” Mingcui jumps straight to the reason for his visit, knowing that the situation is extremely time sensitive. He reaches into his sleeve, pulling out a wooden plaque with green characters. “Please take this. Whenever you’re ready, just present my personal plaque to anyone in our Alchemist Association and they will take care of the rest.”
“Thank you, Mingcui.” Lianyi nods towards him, taking the plaque from his hand before sliding it into her sleeve pocket. “The Academy will not forget this favor.”
“Speak of no such thing, Instructor Liany!” Mingcui exclaims as he waves his hand dismissively at her gratitude. “Speaking on the behalf of the Alchemist Association, those old geezers approved everything out of greed for investments from our Zhou family. Speaking as an uncle, this is for my nephew and his friends. So please, don’t speak of it as a favor.”
Lianyi nods silently before turning back towards her student. Another burst of azure light pierces through the young girl’s closed eyes, causing Lianyi to furrow her brows.
“Is it okay to talk about her condition?” Mingcui inquires, his tone grim. “The kids are all…”
“It’s been less than two hours since the last wave…” Lianyi answers, ignoring the fact that the students are listening in from the hallway. She lifts her hand to rub her aching temples.
“Have you sent messengers to the parents?”
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“No messengers.” Sun’s voice, accompanied by a gust of wind, calls out the entryway. “Not yet.”
The male attendant freezes upon hearing the voice, slowly lifting his gaze to sneak a peek as Sun steps towards Lianyi and Mingcui. His eyes trail up Sun’s towering figure, stopping at the back of his head.
“Sun, good timing.” Lianyi greets him, releasing her fingers from her temples. “Everything is set, we need to hurry.”
The attendant trembles upon confirming the identity of the man through Lianyi’s greeting. He slowly reaches into his sleeve, securing his hands around three pellets. As he withdraws the pellets carefully, his heart races, pumping his veins full of adrenaline.
Sensing something off, Sun pauses his steps. He turns his head slightly to the side and snaps his gaze over his shoulder towards the source of the racing heartbeat. The sudden eye contact causes the attendant to flinch, dropping one of the three pellets from his hands.
The pellet rolls on the ground beside him, slipping through the gap between the door and the floor before curving around the corner into the hallway. It continues rolling alongside the corner where the wall meets the floor, eventually stopping against the overhang of a young boy’s robe.
The boy, about fourteen years of age, leans against the wall beside his friends. His arms, splinted to align his broken bones during the recovery process, float before his chest. A bandage, connected to his arms, hangs from the back of his neck, helping to hold his arms in place to alleviate stress from his bones and muscles.
At first, the boy didn’t notice the pellet as his mind was too preoccupied with Anning’s wellbeing. A split moment later, as the familiar aroma drifts from the pellet to his nose, he suddenly jumps to his feet. He presses his pointed foot against the corner where the wall meets the floor and whips it forward. The pellet bounces off the tip of his shoe, silently whistling as it flies through the hallway and out onto the balcony.
“Dan?” Xi lifts herself to her feet, reaching towards his shoulder. “What’s w-”
The sound of Chunhua’s blade humming as he draws it causes Xi to hold her words. Wei rises beside him, glaring towards the doorway. The two step past Dan, nudging him backward.
“Sun? Wh-” Lianyi, confused by the Sun’s strange behavior, calls out to him as he steps towards the doors.
The attendant breathes a sigh of relief as Sun steps past him and into the hallway. Sun turns his eyes towards Dan upon emerging from the doorway. Seeing Dan’s glare, combined with Wei and Chunhua in a defensive stance, Sun realizes that he wasn’t imagining the familiar scent.
Seeing an opportunity, the attendant flicks both pellets, one towards Lianyi and Mingcui, and the other towards Sun. A split moment after the pellets leave his fingers, they bounce off an invisible barrier, causing his eyes to grow wide with shock. His gaze shivers as it trails the pellets onto the floor, rolling for a moment before exploding into a puff of ashen smoke. Sun glares over his shoulder at the man, watching with disdainful eyes as the attendant chokes for air. As he passes out, Sun turns back towards the students.
“Why don’t you go and keep Yuyu company?”
The students nod in unison, trusting the confidence in their instructor’s tone. As they turn to leave, Sun narrows his eyes towards the floor.
“Mingcui, go with them. Lianyi, stay with Anning.”
Mingcui darts towards the door, unsure why he was obeying the man before him without a second thought. Something about Sun’s tone just made him react in accordance with the orders. As Mingcui passes the entryway, Sun hooks his heel onto the attendant’s sleeve, flicking his foot backward and sending the unconscious man crashing into the wall behind him. He gestures for the female attendant, trembling in cold sweat, to enter the room before reaching out towards the door handles.
“Leave this to me.” Sun’s tone suddenly softens.
The doors pause just before closing completely, leaving a small gap. Sun glances past the gap, looking at Anning before turning his gaze back to Lianyi. With crescent eyes and a soft smile, he pulls the doors fully shut before sending his aura wrapping around the room.
The wood beneath his feet cracks as he suddenly vanishes, reappearing before the dining room door. He lifts his palm and places it flat against the door. Just as he is about to send his aura out, an excited voice from inside causes him to hold back. Just for a little longer, he wants to hear her voice. He stands there, smiling and motionless, enjoying the sound of her soothing voice.
A faint whistling approaches him from the other end of the hallway, forcing him to send out his aura and isolate the voice inside the room.
Mister will be right back.
He coats his entire body in a dense layer of aura as he turns towards the whistling. Muffled explosions fill the hallway as a cloud of ashen smoke blocks out the evening sun rays. As the smoke drifts away, a group of men turns the corner, expecting to see their target incapacitated. Instead, they see a tall man glaring at them with a single hand extended towards them.
“Sunder.”